Helping Hands- 5 Towns

Updated 21 December 2022

The inspection We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people and staff.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered manager This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave short notice of the inspection in order for the registered manager to provide us with the documentation we needed to look at. Inspection activity started on 23 November 2022 and ended on 5 December 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We sought feedback from the local authority and reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, 1 person using the service and 2 staff members. We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people’s care records. We looked at 2 staff files. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, updated risk assessments and quality assurance records. We also reviewed policy documents.

Updated 21 December 2022

Helping Hands – 5 Towns is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 3 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. During this inspection there were 3 people receiving personal care.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

People received safe care and were protected against avoidable harm, neglect and discrimination. Risks to people's safety were assessed and strategies were put in place to reduce the risks.

People received support from staff who had undergone a robust recruitment process. They were supported by regular, consistent staff who knew them and their needs well.

Where the provider took on the responsibility, people's medicines were safely managed.

Systems were in place to control and prevent the spread of infection. The provider ensured that lessons were learned when things went wrong, so that improvements could be made to the service and the care people received.

Staff received an induction and ongoing training that enabled them to have the skills and knowledge to provide effective care.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The staff and the management team were focussed on providing people with support that was based on their individual needs, goals and aspirations. As a result, people's care was tailored to meet their exact needs.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 23 March 2019) and there were breaches in regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced focused inspection of this service on 9 January 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve medicines and staffing.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions safe, effective and well led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last focused inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Helping Hands- 5 Towns on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.